NEWS 2007

Club Championship Positions after Final Round

1. Alan Porteous 114

2. Tony Chalmers 91

3. Brian Munro 85

4. Toby Bracey 74

5. George Robertson 73

6. Dennis Macintosh 73

7. Kevin Porteous 64

8. Ken Macleod 60

Calder Bank Competition (The Rusty Cup) 19th April 2008

George wins Rusty Cup

Eighteen anglers attended the first DFFA competition of the 2008 season on Loch Calder. Competitors were greeted by cold overcast conditions and a dreaded easterly wind.

The competitors spread to every corner of the Loch but it was George Robertson who struck gold in the New Bay. With fish rising to small black up wing flies he managed to bag eight fish using a Ghost Tip line with Kate Maclaren and Greenwell Spider. George also managed the heaviest fish at 0.82 lb.

In second position was Tony (Cobra) Chalmers. The defending champion made a slow start to the day but came on strongly with two hours to go. He caught six fish on the far North East corner of Calder on a Wakesaver line and Bibio.

On the last step of the podium was Calder expert Ken Macleod with four fish caught on his favourite Black Pennell Variant.

Eddie Beattie on fourth, Alan Porteous fifth and Bill Robertson completed the top six.

The President's Quaich 10th May 2008

Dave wins All Lochs

Eighteen anglers attended the second round of the DFFA championship.

The All Lochs can be very much a lottery and this year the choice of venue proved critical in deciding the top positions.

Saturday's weather seemed perfect for fly-fishing with a westerly wind and overcast skies.

Dave Savage finished the day on the top of the podium with 16 fish for 8.66 lb. Dave's basket also included the heaviest fish of 1.57 lb. Dave did the bulk of his catching in Loch Calder's New Bay.

Runner up was Brian Munro with 11 weighing 5.82 lb. Brian also chose to fish Loch Calder but concentrated his efforts on the West Bank. Brian used an intermediate line and Clan Chief.

Surprise, surprise the third biggest basket also came off Calder to Ken Macleod. Ken fished out the same boat as Dave and finished with 6 fish for 3.86 lb.

Despite the good conditions on the day, the shallower lochs, Olginey,Watten and Stemster did not fish well, leaving anglers a little baffled as to why catches were so low. One suggestion was the rapid rise in water temperatures over the last week had put the fish off.

With two rounds fished its nice to see experience triumphing over youth with Ken Macleod leading the championship on 26 points. George Robertson moves into second (23 pts.) and Dave Savage, Bill Robertson and Alan Porteous all tied on third ( 22 pts.).

The weigh in at Thurso Riverside

Dave with the heaviest fish

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Congratulations to Alan Porteous and Toby Bracey who qualified to fish in the Scottish National semi final on the Lake of Menteith. Both anglers representing the DFFA and, with financial support from Caithness Sports Council, managed to qualify at Carron Reservoir.

Local angler Kevin Porteous, representing FNAC, also managed to qualify for the semi final. He also boated Carron Valley's largest trout this season in the process with a Rainbow trout of 10 lb 5 oz.

Hill Lochs Competition 31st May 2008

Loch Seilge and na Caorach

Sixteen anglers attended the third round of the DFFA championship.

With the fishing in Caithness having been poor, anglers were hopeful that crossing the border into Sutherland would see an improvement in the fishing. Lochs Seilge and Caorach are famed for their consistent fishing and very rarely send anglers away empty handed. The steep forty minute trek is the only down side to these lochs, but help was at hand with an Argo Cat and driver supplied to ferry the senior anglers up the hill. The supply of this vehicle by Duncan Richardson of Forsinain was much appreciated.

The steep, rough track to the lochs

Easier for some

The conditions were once again challenging with a northerly wind blowing and with sunny intervals

Alan Porteous returned triumphant with a basket of 10 for 6.75 lb, his basket included the equal heaviest fish at 1.1 lb. Alan fished the south side of Seilge and bagged six before moving to Caorach to complete his basket. Alan fished a ghost tip line and a Black Sedgehog was the top fly.

Runner up was Toby Bracey, catching seven fish for 4.02 lb and his basket included the other heaviest fish. Toby caught all of his fish on Seilge and reported that he was struggling to hook the fish properly until he put on his Fast Glass line.

Alan on the left, Toby on the right

The weigh in at the roadside

With six fish for 3.24 lb and securing third position, was Tony Chalmers. Tony caught three on each loch after starting on Caorach then switching to Seilge and then back to Caorach.

With sixteen anglers bagging only 38 fish for 22.38 lb it was another poor day in what is proving to be a very difficult season.

In case the " younger members " thought that " senior members" just lay about most of the day, here is proof to the contrary

In fact they did some work in restoring the boat berth while waiting for transport back down the hill :-

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Congratulations to the DFFA team for their second place in the Highland Federation Competition on Loch Watten on the 24th of May. DFFA finished just behind Ruthven Anglers with 10 fish to their 11. Toby Bracey was also runner up in the individual event with five, just behind J. Craib of Ruthven who produced a stellar performance to catch six. Fish were hard to catch and the team had to resort to pulling di5's as fish were not willing to come to the surface.

Tuesday 3rd June

This year's biggest fish from Loch Heilan (so far!!) caught by Ronald Mackenzie. Weighing in at a Caithness record of 11 lb 10 oz.

All Lochs Competition 6th June

Twenty anglers assembled to take part in the fourth event in the DFFA championship. With the draw having taken place on the previous Wednesday evening, the field was spread out across Lochs Stemster,Watten,Calder and Olginey. Most of the participating anglers were unsure of how each loch would fish in what has been a very difficult season.

With boats setting off at 18:30 and lines up at 22:00, whoever got it right on the first drift stood a good chance of doing well. Conditions before the off were okay, with an easterly breeze and overcast, but about 15 minutes into the competition the wind dropped and anglers were faced with the dreaded flat calm.

Tony Chalmers used his experience on Stemster to good use, bagging two trout , one of which was in the first 10 minutes, to win first place. Tony's two trout weighed 2.03 lb and pushed the defending champion into first place in the championship.

Tony in the flat calm of Stemster

Brian Munro, who was fishing along side Tony, may feel a little aggrieved to have come second as Brian boated three fish, two in the last 10 minutes, for 1.54 lb. Brian reported that the good old Soldier Palmer was his top fly, taking all three fish.

In third, with one fish, was George Robertson with a nice specimen weighing 1.41 lb from Watten. George also won the heaviest prize with his single fish..

Pretty sunset over Stemster

With nine of the 20 anglers coming in blank and only 18 fish weighed in for 12.05 lb, can the fishing get any worse ??

Congratulations to Tony Chalmers, Toby Bracey and Alan Porteous, Kevin Porteous who all made it to the Scierra pair's final at Rutland on the 31st of August. Both teams qualified well from the Lake of Menteith using Booby and Buzzer techniques to catch their limit bags, proving once again that our lads can mix it with the locals.

Despite the poor fish returns for this season it can still be an interesting day out even if nothing is caught.

Late June on Watten :-

Interesting wild life :-

And interesting cloud formations. This could be cumulo- nimrod :-

Watten All-night 20/21 June 2008

Twenty- two anglers competed in the fifth round of the DFFA championship on Loch Watten. The competition was fished between the hours of 10.00 pm to 7.00 am.

With a strong westerly wind blowing throughout the Friday the competition was close to being cancelled although the weather forecast was giving a drop in wind speed for the evening. For a change, this proved to be accurate and the anglers took to the waves in reasonable conditions.

Dick Bolton , 11 pm , a long night ahead.

With the fishing being described as inconsistent at best, anglers spread across the loch with most choosing to fish in the shallow waters.

By dawn the wind had subsided to almost calm conditions.

Tony Chalmers arrived back on the bank with eight fish weighing a healthy 8.13 lb. This basket was enough to give Tony his second win on the bounce.

Tony fished the Lynegar side of the loch and had most of his fish on the Soldier Palmer. Tony seems to be able to catch throughout the night and claims he puts most of his fish in the bag in the darkest hours while others are struggling.

In second position was Watten specialist George Robertson, his bag of seven fish weighed 7.02 lb. George fished all the way from the top of the Laid Bay down to the Targets. George reported losing a cracker at the Targets, oh well George , he will be even bigger next year!

In third was Alan Porteous with nine fish weighing 6.99 lb. Alan caught most of his fish at the Stemster end of the loch on an Intermediate line and Black Cat Muddler

Brian Munro bagged the heaviest fish of the evening with a nice trout weighing 1.94 lb. The fish was caught at the Stemster end on a Dunkeld. It was good to see a large number of fish between 1.5 lb and 1.94 lb. being brought to the weigh in.

Thanks go to the Brown Trout Hotel for supplying weary anglers with bacon rolls in the morning.

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On the first of July, Lake of Menteith plays host to a SANA semi final. Three of our anglers are competing at the Lake, Alan Porteous, Kevin Porteous and Toby Bracey. We wish them tight lines and hope that DFFA will have a representative in the final this year.

The tenth of July sees the arrival of the Shetland Angling Association. The competition will be bank fishing and will be fished in several of the Caithness lochs over the 11th and 12th of July. Six anglers represent each club competing for the Team, Individual and Heaviest Fish Trophies. Good luck to DFFA. Can we have a clean sweep ?

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Alan Porteous makes the Scottish National Final

DFFA angler Alan Porteous qualified for the SANA Final to take place at the Lake of Menteith on September the 13th.

Alan finished 11th out of 50 anglers in the semi final at the Lake of Menteith on the 1st of July, catching three rainbow trout and one brown trout to give him a total basket weight of 10lb 2oz. The cut-off weight to attain the final was 9lb 8oz. Alan fished a midge tip line using boobys and nymphs to catch his four fish.

Local angler, Kevin Porteous, was unlucky not to qualify with four fish weighing 8lb 15.5oz.

The match was fished in calm conditions with lots of fish rising but they proved very difficult to tempt. Current Scottish and Bob Church Classic winner Alex MacEwan could catch only four fish resulting in non-qualification, which shows how hard conditions were on the day.

Alan would like to thank Caithness Sports Council for their support and is looking forward to the final in which the top 18 out of 62 will be placed in the Scottish National Team for next season.

DFFA versus Shetland Angling Association 11th/ 12th July

Caithness played host to the annual interclub competition between DFFA and the SAA bank team. The competition was fished over two days with anglers bank fishing various local lochs.

The weather for both days was very poor with strong NNW winds blowing and occasional showers.

The teams lined up as follows :-

DFFA SAA

J. Briskham cpt. B. Robertson cpt

T. Chalmers J. Sandison

B. Munro M. Sandison

T. Bracey B. Irvine

J. Hughes A. Jaimeson

A. Porteous B. Reid

DAY 1.

Anglers departed Halkirk at 09:00 hrs. and set off for he various venues that were to be fished , with lines up at 16:00 hrs.

Anglers arrived back with differing amounts of success. Top rods on the day were Mark Sandison (16 for 8.64 lb ) and Tony Chalmers ( 10 for 5.03 lb.). Mark had most of his success on Loch Calder and Tony on Loch Seilge. Both anglers reported that the fish were feeding on Mayfly. Alan Porteous bagged the heaviest trout at 1.1 lb from Loch Toftingal.

Mark's good basket and steady team performance pushed SAA into a 1.36 lb lead at the half way stage.

DAY 2.

Loch Seilge proved the place to be on day two with both top rods coming from this area. Alan Porteous bagged 15 for 7.83 lb and Billy Reid six for 3.42 lb. Alan fished the North bank and Billy the West bank. Barry Robertson also put in a captain's performance with six fish from Caorach.

The two participating teams

Well deserved leisure time at Halkirk after a hard day's fishing

Weigh in Friday evening

RESULTS

Shetland Angling Association came out victorious, with a total of 63 fish for 36.78 lb, DFFA finished close behind with 63 for 35.62 lb. Alan Porteous claimed top individual basket with 21 trout and the heaviest fish ( 1.10 lb ). Mark Sandison finished a close second, just one fish short of Alan's total.

The presentation of the prizes took place at the Pentland Hotel, Thurso where anglers tucked into a well earned meal.

The DFFA President gave his usual witty introductory speech ( Who writes this stuff ? If he doesn't cut out these jokes about Wick he may not be asked back next time ) .

Fortunately, for all concerned Jennifer Porteous was on hand to present the prizes this year.. THANKS JENNIFER !!

SAA team captain, Barry, with the team trophy.

Alan with the Heaviest Basket

and Heaviest Fish Trophy

The competing anglers then retired to the bar for the usual, one that got away, stories and thoughts turned to the return leg in Shetland in 2009.

I am pleased to note that once gain this competition was fished hard but in a gentlemanly spirit. Long may this competition continue. DFFA looks forward to plundering some fish from the Viking's lochs next July.

Thanks to Ken Macleod, Bill Robertson, Pieter Hovig, Hugo Ross and Duncan Richardson for their support in organising this event

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A short story with tenuous connections to angling and DFFA

Gordon Douglas, our ex President, has a small fishing boat moored in Scrabster Harbour. One day in July this year he noticed a pair of swallows were frequenting the area around his boat.

Subsequently a nest was found within the boat cabin. Gordon and his fishing companion, Allister Paterson, managed to remove the nest but, undeterred, the feathery couple built a replacement. This too was removed but unfortunately Gordon had to go away for a weekend and when he returned a new nest had been constructed and five eggs laid.

This meant cancellation of all fishing trips while the eggs were hatched.

Yet another three weeks of fishing inactivity passed before the chicks fledged

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KML Trophy 18th July 2008

17 anglers competed in the sixth round of the DFFA championship on Loch Watten. Continuing with the success of last year's change to the format, anglers were allowed to leave the berth at 6:30 pm and lines wound in at 10 pm, allowing three and a half hours on the water. this was introduced to give all the anglers the same amount of time on the loch irrespective of the launching area.

The weather on the evening turned out to be a bit of a surprise with a southerly wind swinging to the west as the evening progressed. This was a pleasant change after the north easterly winds that have plagued this season.

With a few anglers nursing the scars of a beating from the Shetland Angling Association, it was time to for the competing anglers to refocus on the DFFA championship.

The best angler on the night was Kevin Porteous who landed seven fish for 4.61 lb. Kevin and Toby made the brave decision to motor all the way from the village end using half an hour of their fishing time to fish at the Stemster end. Kevin's cast was made up of three diawl bach which he cast at the rising fish.

In second position, making it the first Porteous 1-2 for a long time, was Alan Porteous. Alan weighed in five for 3.22 lb. Alan fished the same area as Kevin and took all his fish on a Black Cat Muddler on a Midge Tip line.

Dennis Macintosh bagged two cracking fish weighing 2.89 lb to lift third place and heaviest fish. Dennis fished between Pat Grants and Railway Bay.

With only two competitions to go its going to be a close run thing for the places in the top six.

BF TROPHY TOFTINGAL 8th August 2008

Sixteen anglers competed in the penultimate round of the DFFA championship on Loch Toftingal

Calm conditions and the dreaded Scottish midge greeted anglers attending the seventh round of the DFFA championship. Luckily the calm conditions did not last and a breeze emerged from south giving the competitors a better chance of connecting with some trout.

After a long day with mixed weather conditions, Alan Porteous landed four fish weighing 2.71 lb which included the heaviest fish of 0.99 lb. Alan spent the whole day deep wading the east bank. He used a midge tip line with a variety of flies doing the damage.

In second position, continuing his good run of form, was Brian Munro. With an hour to go he had no fish in the bag but at the last minute he moved to the north end and bagged three fish weighing 2.18 lb. The successful fly was a black sedgehog on the midge tip line.

The final step on the podium belonged to Dennis MacIntosh with four fish for 2.12 lb. Dennis continued with the tactic of covering most of the loch which was so successful last season.

Ken Macleod presents the winner Alan Porteous with the B.F. Trophy :-

It was a long day for some.

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PARRY TROPHY 16th AUGUST 2008

17 anglers attended the closing round of the DFFA championship with Shetland, Highland Federation and Scottish National places still all available to the anglers that excelled in the final event.

With Watten having fished so poorly all season, anglers knew that it was vital to get one in the boat early to help steady the nerves. With white horses coming down the loch as the day progressed and few fish being boated it was once again evident that anglers had to grind out a result.

The clear winner on the day was in form Alan Porteous with a basket of seven trout weighing 6.02 lb. Alan caught fish at the Targets, Laid Bay and the Stemster end. Alan's tactic was to stay in shallow water to avoid the worst of the waves. Alan fished a DI 3 line with a Black Cat Muddler catching most of the fish.

In second position, Toby Bracey managed to bag three quality trout for 3.55 lb. Tony's secret weapon, the Pod Horski, was the number one fly. Details on the tying of the Pod Horski are yet to be confirmed but sources suggest it is a Norski Lad variant. Included in his bag was the heaviest fish at 2.18 lb.

Dennis Macintosh continued his run of third places with three fish weighing 2.67 lb. Tony Chalmers finished fourth with two weighing 2.58 lb. -- a decent result as Tony fished despite a septic finger.

Brian Munro rounded off his best season so far with fifth position after catching two weighing2.27 lb. George Robertson bagged sixth with three for 2.01 lb

Winner, Alan Porteous and Heaviest Fish caught by Toby Bracey on the right

The first three anglers in the championship will be eligible to fish the Scottish National and Highland Federation Competitions. The top six will travel to Shetland to fish against Shetland Angling Association.

SCIERRA PAIRS FINAL ( RUTLAND WATER )

Scierra tackle manufacturers hosted the Grand Slam Final on Rutland on the 30th August. Qualifying from Lake of Menteith earlier in the season, Alan, Kevin Porteous and Toby Bracey were met by Tony Chalmers replacement Robert Murray ( Scottish River Champion ) who was to partner Toby in the final. The four anglers had made the journey to the Midlands to take on the best Loch Style Fly Fishers from around the country.

With Alan and Kevin having never fished Rutland Water before it was decided that a practise day was necessary. Everyone caught well in practise using tactics alien to the Caithness trout but they seemed to work wonders on the stocked rainbow trout of Rutland. The only downside to the practise was that the best area was half an hours motoring from the Fishing Lodge which could count against the pair in a time bonus situation.

Robert, Toby and Kevin at the briefing

The race for start positions.

Competition day saw sixty three teams take to the water. With weather conditions favourable for angling, with light warm winds and overcast conditions, expectations were high. After the gun sounded eighty percent of the fleet headed to the same area as Alan and Kevin. On the first few drifts it became obvious that the trout had thinned out in this area with only a few fish boated early. The pair decided to move out to deeper water and fish buzzer patterns deeper in the water column. This paid off as Alan and Kevin started to catch consistently. The pair managed to bag their limit of sixteen fish weighing 35 lb 11 oz and headed back to the Fishing Lodge as quickly as possible to attain the maximum time bonus which was set at 2 lb per hour.

Toby and Robert did not fare so well and never really found the feeding fish and arrived at the berth with six fish weighing 16 lb 8 oz

Arriving back at the berth, it became clear that some boats had managed to catch their limits quicker than the Caithness pair. With too small a time bonus Alan and Kevin finished outside the prizes.

The pair are both very pleased with the result as going to a water they had never fished before they competed well with the country's best. Alan, Kevin and Toby look forward to entering again next season and the experience gained from this year will hopefully help them get among the prizes.

Scottish National Fly Fishing Final

Lake of Menteith played host to the 116th Scottish National Fly Fishing Final on the 13th of September.

Alan Porteous represented the Dounreay Fly Fishing Association after qualifying from a heat at the Carron Valley reservoir and then through competing at the Scottish semi final in July earlier this year. These earlier rounds saw the original 500 Club Champions and Runners up from all over Scotland reduced to 62 remaining anglers who were lucky enough to have won a place in the final event.

Alan spent the two official practise days afloat with his boat partner for the competition, Douglas Scott of Earlston A.A. and his brother Kevin Porteous, who would be their boatman on competition day. All three anglers caught well in practise and formulated a game plan for the final.

With the weather drastically different on the competition day, as it had been from previous days, Alan was concerned that the fish may not be so eager to take in their chosen areas.

The 62 competing anglers were piped to the water and a gun sounded the start of the match. The boat headed out for one of Alan's favourite spots, the Malling Shore.

After a change of tactics, Alan proceeded to catch four rainbow trout reasonably quickly. Competition rules state that, once four fish have been kept, anglers must debarb their hooks and return any others caught. For each extra fish released, an extra 2 lb. was added to the angler's final bag weight. Alan continued to catch on a slow intermediate line with White Cat and Cormorant flies.

At the end of the day Alan had an impressive bag of 11 trout caught, weighing 23 lb 9 oz. This was enough to secure Alan the runner up position to the new Scottish Champion, R. Gilbert of Thack A.A. The result means that Alan will represent Scotland in against the Home Nations in 2009. Alan's boat partner, Douglas, also made the team with 7 trout weighing 13 lb 12 oz.

Alan would like to thank his brother Kevin for doing a superb job as boatman on the day, Dounreay Fly Fishing Association and Caithness Sports Council for their support and Rolls Royce, Vulcan for granting Alan the time off to compete in these events.

A wee photo gallery of back end Watten trout.

Brian Munro 29th August

2 lb 7 oz

Ken Macleod 26th September

2 lb 12 oz

Alan Porteous

21st September

2 lb 13 oz

The berth improvements at the south end of Loch Calder have been completed in plenty of time for the 2009 season.